Cokie and Steve Roberts: Finally, a push for a realistic approach to Cuba

Tuesday

Apr 28, 2009 at 12:01 AMApr 28, 2009 at 10:02 AM

President Barack Obama actually thinks he should talk to the leaders of a nation only 90 miles from Florida. He also thinks that American citizens who emigrated from Cuba should be able to visit their homeland and send money to their relatives. Score one for rationality and common sense.

President Barack Obama actually thinks he should talk to the leaders of a nation only 90 miles from Florida. He also thinks that American citizens who emigrated from Cuba should be able to visit their homeland and send money to their relatives. Score one for rationality and common sense.

For decades, American policy toward Cuba has been frozen in time, dictated by a small but fervent band of exiles who demanded that Washington take the hardest possible line against Havana. No talk, no trade, no travel. Nada.

The policy was straight out of a fairy tale. Close your eyes, clap your hands, wish very hard, and maybe the island will disappear.

Think how truly crazy that approach really was. President Richard Nixon went to China 37 years ago. President Ronald Reagan traveled to Moscow and saw the “Evil Empire” for himself in 1988.
Only Cuba was off-limits, only Fidel Castro was a nonperson.

The policy persisted for only one reason. Cuban exiles clustered in South Florida could command total loyalty from Republican presidents on the one issue they cared about. Bill Clinton wanted to improve ties to Cuba, but his efforts ended in 1996 after Castro’s forces shot down two planes searching for rafters fleeing the island.

Obama knew the Republicans were on the wrong side of history and campaigned for a change in Cuba policy. Now he has taken a few small steps in that direction. Exiles will be able to travel more freely, and send money and humanitarian aid more easily.

Telecommunications companies would be free to seek business in Cuba as well.

The president should not stop there. Let everyone travel to Cuba, not just exiles; end a trade embargo that mainly impacts ordinary citizens; and establish diplomatic relations.

But we also understand Obama’s caution. He has made the first move, now it’s up to Cuba to reciprocate. Fidel’s brother Raul, who holds the title of president, says he’s willing to discuss “everything” with Obama, including political prisoners and human rights. If he’s serious, he will find a willing partner in the White House. As the president put it, “We’re going to explore and see if we can make some further steps.”

Ending a 50-year-old fairy tale and restoring rationality is not easy. Obama’s shift is only possible because a number of critical factors have coalesced at the same time.

Politics
The generation of “historic” exiles that was born in Cuba and kept the anti-Castro flame burning in Florida is fading from the scene. Their children and grandchildren hold much more flexible views. Obama received almost half of the Cuban-American vote in Florida, and a new poll shows that 64 percent of that group supports the president’s new policies. Says Fernand Amandi, vice president of Miami-based Bendixen & Associates, which conducted the survey: “We’re at the end of a 50-year stalemate period, calling for a new dawn on U.S.-Cuba relations.”

Economics
With 11 million people, Cuba is the biggest market in the Caribbean, and American business interests — from the Chamber of Commerce to the farm lobby — are pushing hard for liberalized trade. A Florida State University study estimates that resuming commerce with Cuba would bring between $1 billion and $2 billion worth of business to Florida alone.

Democracy
The administration argues that freer trade and travel would have political implications as well. As Dan Restrepo, a senior adviser on Western Hemisphere Affairs at the National Security Council, put it, “It’s very important to help open up space so the Cuban people can work on the kind of grass-roots democracy that is necessary to move Cuba to a better future.” There are no guarantees here. But the more Cubans learn about the outside world, the more likely they are to demand political change at home.

Diplomacy
Washington broke off diplomatic relations with Havana after Castro took power, but Sen. Richard Lugar, ranking Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, argues that policy is now counterproductive. By isolating America from world opinion, it diminishes our credibility and “undermines our broader security and political interests.”

History
Communist expansionism has receded as a threat to American interests. The Cuban missile crisis took place almost 47 years ago. So it is far easier for a modern president to withstand the anti-Communist tirades launched by Castro’s die-hard foes. As Secretary of State Hillary Clinton put it, “Let’s put ideology aside; that is so yesterday.”

Information

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